Patients’ online access and interpretation of lab test results
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Patients’ online access and interpretation of lab test results: a human computer interaction study
IRAS ID
183845
Contact name
Paolo Fraccaro
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Manchester
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 5 months, 3 days
Research summary
Enabling patients to access their own health records online is a key way of engaging them in taking an active role in their care. While more healthcare providers are introducing online systems, this area is still relatively new and evidence about the potential impact on health is scarce. Currently, most online services which allow patients to access their records are directed towards patients with chronic condi-tions, who undergo regular monitoring, follow-ups and may be expected to self-manage aspects of their health. The main activity for which patients use such services is checking their laboratory results (i.e. potassium, calcium or creatinine levels). On this basis they might decide to contact their doctor immediately (if worried about something they see), make a non-urgent appointment, or take no action. However, while overall satisfaction with these systems seems high, there is evidence that patients find it difficult to correctly identify abnormal laboratory results and make effective decisions about how to act on them.
We suspect that patients may experience difficulties with interpreting laboratory results not only due to their ability to comprehend the clinical content itself, but also due to the way information is presented. To date, this has not been addressed in the scientific literature. Therefore, we wish to investigate how different ways of presenting laboratory results might influence how patients interpret and act on them.
In this study we will focus on patients with chronic kidney disease. Patients with this condition have regular urine and blood tests, which are used to monitor the progress of the disease. Furthermore, in the UK there is an established community of kidney patients who use an online service (called Pa-tientView) to view their laboratory results and support self-management. We will ask kidney patients to view and interact with a series of hypothetical (imaginary but plausible) sets of laboratory results relevant to their condition. These will be shown through a standard prototype, based on PatientView, and also different prototypes that we have developed. Each presentation will provide different visual cues, colours and tools to help the patient view and interpret the information. After viewing each set of laboratory results, patients will be asked to choose between three responses, based on how they would act in real life: calling their doctor immediately (high perceived risk); asking for an appointment in the next four weeks (medium perceived risk); or waiting for their next scheduled appointment (low per-ceived risk) to discuss the laboratory results. This will allow us to compare the relative performance of each interface, in terms of enabling patients to interpret risk accurately. We will also gather data on perceived usefulness, information usage, cognitive load, and satisfaction.
The findings of this study will be used to produce recommendations for optimising the web-based presentation of results from laboratory tests to patients.REC name
South Central - Berkshire B Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/SC/0738
Date of REC Opinion
23 Nov 2015
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion